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Words Meanings
1. industrial center a) things people make or grow
2. irrigate b) jobs that make other people more
comfortable
3. products c) o bring water to dry land to make things
grow
4. ore d) place that is important because of its
factories
5. refineries e) part of a country
6. region f) place where crude oil is made into gasoline
7. occupation g) mineral taken from the ground and made
into metal
8. service trades h) places where things are made
9. factories i) job
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
The history of American form of Government begins with its settlers. Most of the early settlers came from England. They lived in groups called colonies. The king of England was their ruler.
The English settlers founded the Virginia colony at Jamestown in 1607. It was the first permanent English colony. In 1620 other English people came to America. They were known as Pilgrimes. They went to Holland first. In Holland their children began to forget the English ways. And they decided to leave Holland and go to the new world. They started Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. They struggled to build homes and to exist. After a hard winter the Pilgrims who survived held a feast with their friends, the Indians, who had helped them begin their new way of life. They thanked God for their blessings. This was the first American Thanksgiving. They still celebrate Thanksgiving Day each year near the end of November.
More Englishmen, as well as people from other European countries came to live in America. Many, like the Pilgrims, wanted to be free, to worship God in their own way. Others were looking for political freedom. Traders were seeking ways to make money. The poor and the unemployed people wanted jobs to earn a better living. Businessmen who had money to invest saw promise of success in America. They came from such countries as Holland, Sweden and Finland. The Germans, Scotch-Irish and French were among those who came to the new World looking for a better life too.
After many years all the colonists came under British rule. Georgia founded in 1733 was the last colony to be formed.
In 1776 there were 13 British colonies in that part of America that later became the United States. These colonies became the 13 states. They are Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersy, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island.
The king let the colonists elect representatives to make local laws. But as time passed more and more laws for the colonists were made in Great Britain. Under these laws, the colonists had to pay more taxes.
However, the colonists were not asked to help make these laws. They had no representatives in Great Britain. They began to feel that some of their rights were being taken away from them and they declared they could be taxed only by their own representatives. The King refused to change the tax laws.
The colonists decided to hold a meeting to discuss their problems. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates to this meeting. It was held in Philadelphia in 1774. It was the First continental Congress. The colonists asked the King for their rights as Englishmen. The king refused. He called them traitors. The Second Continental Congress met in Independence fall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1775. It decided that the colonists should fight Great Britain. This war was called the Revolutionary, war or the War for Independence.
George Washington was appointed to lead the soldiers. He became their commander-in-chief. Freedom-loving people from many countries - France, Poland and Germany - came to help the colonists because they knew Washington did not have trained soldiers. In January 1776 Thomas Paine, an English immigrant, wrote the pamphlet "Common Sense". Paine's words excited the people. More and more of them talked of Independence.
The colonists decided to free themselves from Great Britain. They wanted their own Government. A committee was appointed to write a Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and others were members of the Committee. Jefferson wrote most of the Declaration. On July, 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The colonists declared themselves to be free. They became separate states. This is how the new nation began. Since then the 4th of July is a holiday in the United States known as Independence Day.